Employers should start doing these things now, even if COVID-19 has not arrived in the communities where they operate. You can already reduce working days lost due to illness and stop or slow the spread of COVID-19 if it arrives at one of your workplaces.
- Make sure your workplaces are clean and hygienic.
- Surfaces (e.g. desks and tables) and objects (e.g. telephones, keyboards) need to be wiped with disinfectant regularly.
- Why? Because contamination on surfaces touched by employees and customers is one of the main ways that COVID-19 spreads.
- Promote regular and thorough hand-washing by employees, contractors and customers.
- Put sanitizing hand rub dispensers in prominent places around the workplace. Make sure these dispensers are regularly refilled
- Display posters promoting hand-washing –ask your local public health authority for these.
- Combine that with other communication measures such as offering guidance from occupational health and safety officers, briefings at meetings and information on the intranet to promote hand-washing.
- Make sure that staff, contractors and customers have access to places where they can wash their hands with soap and water.
- Why? Because washing kills the virus on your hands and prevents the spread of COVID-19
- Promote good respiratory hygiene in the workplace
- Display posters promoting respiratory hygiene. Combine this with other communication measures such as offering guidance from occupational health and safety officers, briefing at meetings and information on the intranet etc.
- Ensure that face masks and/or paper tissues are available at your workplaces, for those who develop a runny nose or cough at work, along with closed bins for hygienically disposing of them.
- Why? Because good respiratory hygiene prevents the spread of COVID-19
- Advise employees and contractors to consult national travel advice before going on business trips.
- Brief your employees, contractors and customers that if COVID-19 starts spreading in your community, anyone with even a mild cough or low-grade fever (37.3 C or more) needs to stay at home. They should also stay home (or work from home) if they have had to take simple medications, such as paracetamol/acetaminophen, ibuprofen or aspirin, which may mask symptoms of infection.
- Keep communicating and promoting the message that people need to stay at home even if they have just mild symptoms of COVID-19.
- Make clear to employees that they will be able to count this time off as sick leave.
- Display posters with this message in your workplaces. Combine this with other communication channels commonly used in your organization or business.
- Your occupational health services, local public health authority or other partners may have developed campaign materials to promote this message.